rich alone, and the noblest work was the work done for the poor, he bent himself bravely to his splendid task. Whether battling with the weapons of his wit for the release of poor prisoners or poor schoolboys. or humanity for almshouse paupers, or relief for befogged and plundered clients and a public ridden to death by aristocratic office-holders, or founding a great liberal newspaper in the interest of popular government and free education, or refusing with dignity an invitation to attend as an actor the court where he could not be received as a private man, Charles Dickens, without a suspicion of demagogism, without the affectation of condescending, without uttering one insincere or flattering word, made himself as truly the poet and prophet of the people in prose as Burns was their chosen ‘singer in verse. It is for this reason, that, wherever the English language is spoken, Charles Dickens was cherished as a friend. It is for this reason, that his death awakens such universal sorrow, and that his name will be held in sincerely affectionate remembrance to the latest generations." "By the time that 'Barnaby Rudge' was finished, during the year 1841, even the vigorous and enduring frame of the new novelist was sensibly fatigued. No wonder. In six years, he had fully established a new department of romance, erecting a reputation which would have remained a lasting one without another word or volume; and had proved himself, besides his unquestioned supremacy as a novelist, a laborious and able workman in three other departments of literary labor, ― reporting, editing, and biography. The exertion thus invested was intense as well as enjoyable; for no quality of genius is more invariable than the intensity which marks its activity. No human standard of measurement can estimate the total of labor represented by the twenty volumes, or thereabouts, which the young man of twenty-nine had produced in six years. The very penmanship of so many pages is no inconsiderable accumulation of labor. The contrivance of all these stories, the adaptation to them of the characters and groups supplied by the mind, the shaping-out of plot and dialogue, situation and catastrophe, constitute another far higher and immeasurably greater body of labor; and behind all these was that vast mass of seeing, understanding, and remembering, which may be called the professional training and experience of the author, and which was really the whole of his past life, including both the circumstances of his own home and social position, and the extraordinary series of researches and studies that he was always making into the actualities of the humanity around him. The mere quantity of labor involved in all this, leaving its quality out of the question, and treating it merely as an enterprise in acquiring and recording knowledge, is something tre mendous. The higher mental operations are not less exhausting, but more so, than the lower; and it is not wonderful, but natural, that by this time a vacation was necessary even to this vividly-energetic, swift, and enduring organism." Therefore Mr. Dickens decided to visit America, and embarked with his wife in January, 1842, for "The land of the free, and the home of the brave." They reached Boston on the 22d; went by New York to Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond; then by York, Penn., and Pittsburg, down the Ohio to Cincinnati, Cairo, and St. Louis; thence back to Cincinnati, northward to the Lakes, to Niagara, and down the St. Lawrence to Montreal and Quebec; and thence by Lake Champlain back to New York; from which he re-embarked for England, June 7 of the same year. Mr. Dickens was desirous of securing an international copyright law, in which he, as an author, was specially interested, but did not succeed. On his return to England, he published a book containing some account of his travels and adventures, and conveying his impressions of the country and its people. This book was received in America with great displeasure. The popularity of the author sank far below any zero of agreeable measurement. All but the truly discriminating cried out against him; for he assailed the iniquitous system of American slavery, he exposed the vileness of politics and the craftiness of politicians, and he showed how the public press catered too often to public vices. Time has wiped away some of these stains from the brow of America; and the red hand of War has slain the foc of our prosperity. Slavery no longer exists; and the nation confesses, by its action towards the black man, that the strictures of Charles Dickens were deserved. Yet much remains to be done before the land shall be free from reproach, and its people from objectionable habits. God speed the day when it shall be wholly "a nation whose God is the Lord"! With all its faults, we love it; and its truest friends pray for its peace and prosperity, and for the time when its sons and daughters in home and Church and State shall labor together for its permanent welfare. Extracts from "The American Notes" will be of interest; and the following portrays a portion of the voyage hither: "It is the third morning. I am awakened out of my sleep by a dismal shriek from my wife, who demands to know whether there's any danger. I rouse myself, and look out of bed. The water-jug is plunging and leaping like a lively dolphin; all the smaller articles are afloat, except my shoes, which are stranded on a carpet-bag high and dry, like a couple of coal-barges. Suddenly I see them spring into the air, and behold the looking glass, which is nailed to the wall, sticking fast upon the ceiling. At the same time, the door entirely disappears, and a new one is opened in the floor. Then I begin to comprehend that the state-room is standing on its head. "Before it is possible to make any arrangement at all compatible with this novel state of things, the ship rights. Before one can say, 'Thank Heaven!' she wrongs again. Before one can cry, 'She is wrong!' she seems to have started forward, and to be a creature actively running of its own accord, with broken knees and failing legs, through every variety of hole and pitfall, and stumbling constantly. Before one can so much as wonder, she takes a high leap into the air. Before she has well done that, she takes a deep dive into the water. Before she has gained the surface, she throws a somerset. The instant she is on her legs, she rushes backward. And so she goes on, staggering, heaving, wrestling, leaping, diving, jumping, pitching, throbbing, rolling, and rocking, and going through all these movements, sometimes by turns, and sometimes all together, until one feels disposed to roar for mercy. 6 - "A steward passes. Steward!' Sir?' What is the matter? What do you call this?'-'Rather a heavy sea on sir, and a head wind.' "A head wind! Imagine a human face upon the vessel's prow, with fifteen thousand Samsons in one, bent upon driving her back, and hitting her exactly between the eyes whenever she attempts to advance an |